1. Field
Aspects of the present invention relate to a touch screen panel provided to an image display device and the like, and a fabricating method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A touch screen panel is an input device that allows a user's instruction to be inputted by selecting an instruction content displayed on a screen such as an image display device with a user's hand or object.
To this end, the touch screen panel is formed on a front face of the image display device to convert a contact position into an electrical signal. Here, the user's hand or object is directly in contact with the touch screen panel at the contact position. Accordingly, the instruction content selected at the contact position is inputted as an input signal to the image display device.
Since such a touch screen panel can be used instead of a separate input device connected to an image display device, such as a keyboard or mouse, use of the touch screen panel has increased. Touch screen panels are divided into a resistive overlay touch screen panel, a photosensitive touch screen panel, a capacitive touch screen panel, and the like. Among these touch screen panels, the capacitive touch screen panel converts a contact position into an electrical signal by sensing a change in capacitance formed between a conductive sensing pattern and an adjacent sensing pattern, ground electrode or the like, when a user's hand or object is in contact with the touch screen panel.
To this end, the capacitive touch screen panel includes first sensing patterns formed to be connected along a first direction and second sensing patterns formed to be connected along a second direction, so that a coordinate of a contact position of the user's hand or object can be detected. The first and second sensing patterns are formed of the same material and in the same layer so that the touch screen panel can have more uniform sensitivity.
However, in this case, first connection patterns connecting the first sensing patterns in the first direction and second connection patterns connecting the second sensing patterns in the second direction are formed through different processes so as to prevent the first and second connection patterns from being short-circuited. For example, the first connection patterns are integrally formed with the first sensing patterns at the same time in a process of patterning the first and second sensing patterns, and the second connection patterns are formed to connect the second sensing patterns in another process, e.g., a process of forming position detecting lines.
However mask processes are necessarily performed in a process of patterning the first and second sensing patterns and the first connection lines, a process of patterning the second connection patterns and the position detecting lines, a process of patterning an insulating layer insulating the first and second connection patterns, and in other related processes. Therefore, the fabrication process of the touch screen panel is complicated, and accordingly, the fabrication efficiency of the touch screen panel is lowered.